8 Comments
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Ivo's avatar
May 22Edited

Dear Chris, the WAM voyages should continue and in my opinion it’s time to pay the visit to DS9 as your next stop. Not only is DS9 a brilliant ST series, it does provide natural follow up from TNG adventures, as it was during the time of the series original run. You have my vote, Captain… or shall I say Commander.

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Chris Bateman's avatar

Ha ha - thanks for the vote of confidence, Ivo! If we do WAMTNG Origins (classic Trek), it will only take a year and a half, and even though I'd be quite happy to skip directly to DS9, I feel like I cannot afford to neglect my family's sci-fi education. Plus, classic Trek has the best matte paintings. 😂

Thanks for all your support, Ivo!

Chris.

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Charlie Wilkins's avatar

I'm excited to read your insights on DS9, my absolutely favourite Trek.

Because nobody asked:

DS9

TNG

TOS

VOY

ENT

Oh, you want me to include modern Trek? Fiiiine:

DS9

TNG

SNW

LD

TOS

DISCO

VOY

ENT

PRD

TAS

That's not to say ENT is terrible, it's just that everything is better. And I've not seen Prodigy or TAS, but I'm sure they have their moments. I just love DS9 with all my heart.

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Chris Bateman's avatar

Thanks for sharing your support for 'boldly going on', Charlie! Your order for the original production shows is roughly my own - although I sometimes feel a heel for putting TNG ahead of classic Trek, and would largely prefer not to have to rank them! 😂 They are such wildly different shows, for all their common heritage.

And I see you are, like Ian, a fan of Strange New Worlds. I don't think I'll be watching the 'big budget fan fiction' (as I like to call it) but it's cool that there's one that folks are enjoying.

Thanks for commenting!

Chris.

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Charlie Wilkins's avatar

"Big budget fan fiction" is such an apt term for SNW. It's feel-good without feeling obtrusively try-hard, like Discovery was at times. It's the most I've enjoyed a whole crew in a long time with Trek, not just because there's not BEEN any Trek before the renaissance we're in now. Plus, Anson Mount is great.

Just realised I missed out Picard, which goes to show how slight that show actually was. Now THAT was fan fiction on a grand scale.

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Chris Bateman's avatar

Ha ha! My brother loved Picard, and I have a friend who did as well... but I have not even been tempted to watch it. I did find it amusing how swiftly it devolved into precisely what Patrick Stewart asked that it not be: a rehashing of TNG. 😜

It never ceases to amaze me how easily people are won over by the combination of a legal intellectual property claim and the hiring of a recognised cast. For myself, buying into these sort of projects would require guarantees of authenticity that contemporary media simply isn't capable of delivering. I therefore presume I would be disappointed and so let it largely pass me by, and this saves me from a great deal of disappointment. 🙂

Also, I never forgot the lesson of Highlander II: in the worst case, you can always just pretend that it didn't happen. 😂

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inw's avatar

Initially I couldn’t vote, but that turns out to be due to Substack’s strange authentication mechanism. I suggestion “Origins” but I am of course also here for DS9. Or Strange New Worlds, but I accept you’re not into that :).

For a moment I considered suggesting that you phrased the whole “Origins” series as if TOS was a prequel to TNG, but that joke would wear off quickly and would be very mysterious for new readers.

— Ensign^WLieutenant JG inw

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Chris Bateman's avatar

Dang, I hadn't considered that this poll format might require registration. That's going to seriously constrain the number of responses it gets... Thanks for voting anyway!

I love the idea that you think I would write about one of the 'big budget fan fiction' shows... My Magic 8 Ball says 'All Signs Point to No'. 😂

Stay wonderful, Ian!

Chris.

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